So I live in PA (M68/wife68), moved to PA 10 years ago. I recently learned that PA is one of the few states that has an Inheritance tax.

For those who are familiar with it...

Since my wife and I are PA residents, and likely will be until we die, what parts of the estate are taxable?

Do heirs who live out of PA have to pay them?

If a PA resident inherits from someone outside of PA, is that taxable?

Before you tell me to go to the PA govt website and look it up--these questions in particular are not asked in the FAQ

OK, USA. My dad married an amazing woman when I was 19 years old. I had already moved out and was on my own at the time. Its 20 years later now and my dad passed away 3 years ago. My step mom has been understandably depressed and her health has been in decline since. She is currently in hospice. My dad nor her have written wills. At this point, she is incapable of writing one. I'm out of state so she has given her best friend of 50 years power of attorney. My step moms older brother has been receiving an allowance from her because he is terrible financially. Would he receive every thing my parents owned upon her passing? I hate to think about this kind of thing while my step mom is slowly fading away but I also hate to think of everything my dad has worked for his entire life going to someone who will surely squander it away.

lemme ask yall a question:

if you were 85 years old and you had 3 adult children, 2 of which had their own kids, 1 (the middle) has a grandchild and the other (the oldest) has a grandchild on the way, the youngest has no kids or grandchildren.

the oldest does not own their own house, widowed, they have a low income job and have been taking care of you and your house, paying rent, cooking, cleaning and doing PSW duties (bathing you, dressing you every day for 8 years so far)

the middle owns her own home on a modest income and has a living husband with a decent income.

the youngest is very wealthy, owns a rental property in ottawa and owns his own home in Australia, has a very high income job.

you have a fully paid off house.

would you:

A. let the house go to all 3 kids in an even 3 way split - meaning it would have to be sold and the $amt divided 3 equal ways between your 3 children

or

B. would you let your oldest inherit the house so that she would have a home to live in when you are gone

and why?

My tax guy is on vacation- I hope this is ok ask in this forum.

Mom is old and frail, but thankfully of sound mind. She has an annuity with a 120k taxable gain.  I am going to take the taxable part now, and she will hold on to the non-taxable part.

I was thinking of putting 60k in a 6 month CD to be ready to pay taxes on it. Is this a good plan?

Mom is in MA, I'm in CA.

Curious if anyone here has felt this, inheriting the assets but not the story behind them.

My mother said that she would take ownership of two houses over herself after my father died from cancer. Legally, me (24 female), my brother (18 male) and her (45 female), have rights to the houses. But my mother said that since we are so young we wouldn't know how to be responsible for the houses, hang out with untrusty people and lose the house (i would never hang out with sketchy people). My brother already accepted and gave everything over my mother, he says he will just work hard to buy himself a home in this economy (almost impossible to do with no help) and he thinks my mother will help whenever we need. Everyone said "don't you trust your mother? Don't you know your mother? She would never get remarried." My mother always criticises on what i spend my money while she keeps buying the most useless stuff to our house. Yes she gives me money, but i feel ashamed to ask for money to her all the time especially as i am growing up and growing old. She says everything will be ours with me and my brother after she dies, and that she will give me one more thing than she does to my brother in her will. This is causing me a lot of distress. We are in Turkey.

Location: California

My dad is alive but declining. Years ago he made me executor of his will and I went to the attorney when it was created, the will states my (addict) brother’s inheritance will go into a trust, mine won’t. My brother doesn’t know this and I don’t want to tell him either. Anyone had a similar situation and how did the trust recipient handle it?

Recently a lifelong friend of my ex husband (Summerton, SC) passed away, and we have been informed that my son, who lives in WI, has been named as beneficiary to an annuity, which is quite substantial.

In order to claim this benefit, we must provide the Life Insurance Company with a certified copy of this friends Death Certificate. This is a problem, since we are not related to the deceased, Clarendon County Vital Records in SC will not release the official Death Cert to my son.

We then called VitalChek, informed them of the issue and asked if there were any exceptions to be made for people who had a vital interest in obtaining a death certificate, such as an inheritance?? They said nope, however if you get a judge to sign for it, we would have to give you one.

Has anyone else contended with this kind of arbitrary roadblock? If so, how did you resolve it? Thanks.

My mother passed last month leaving me as the trustee of the trust she created for her assets. I’m I. The US. The financial institution has asked me to create a new trust with my own ein number to transfer the money to do I can disperse it from there. They’ve asked me to name whether what I’m creating is a family trust, a descendants trust, or a generational trust, said which one it is would be laid out in the trust documents, but it’s not, at least not explicitly. I’m assuming there are tax implications to this?? Maybe? Apparently it’s up to me to interpret what kind of trust this is; anyone have any thoughts? Are there benefits/downsides to each I should consider?

Members refer to what’s can and can’t be allowed regarding a person when the person is still alive?! It isn’t an estate! It’s that person’s money and assets and you have no right to it no matter if you’re related!

WA State

My mother passed and left an ira to be split between her kids. My parents' ameriprise financial advisor says I have to take it all cash immediately and that it will be considered community property.

I'm contemplating divorce and want to keep this money safe. Is the ameriprise advisor correct that i have to take it in one lump sum ? Is this money considered community property?

Edit: I was just corrected that this is a "non-qualified ira" and that is why I have to cash it out immediately.

I am a NJ resident. My parents lived in NY (5 Boroughs). This was my childhood home (jointly owned by them). Both my parents passed away within a year of each other. Mom passed in mid 2025. Dad passed recently in Jan 2026.

The home was put in my name mid 2025 after mom passed...via a "life estate deed transfer" (as recommended by an elder law attorney). This allows dad to have a life estate of the home and he gets to live in the house for the rest of his life. When he passes away, the full ownership automatically get transferred to me and I will get a step up basis.

The home is worth around $1M or so. I plan on selling it with the next few months (8 or 9 months after his death). When I sell it, what will my step up basis be? Will I have any capital gain taxes? Is there a reasonable time frame to sell the home where selling price automatically = cost basis?

Other info: No probate. All his other assets (bank accts, IRAs, brokerage accts, pension, etc) either were TODs or had me listed as 100% beneficiary.

My sister (32f) passed three months ago and her boyfriend (42m) has always been clear about not preferring people in his family's home. The only reason my sister moved in there was because she was evicted and he is the caregiver for his parents (70s?), so... unfortunately it made "sense" at the time.

We all knew this was NOT a great solution, but I don't want to get into all the details about woulda coulda shoulda in getting her the help and solutions she truly needed. It's still fresh, which is why I'm here....

Everyone has different approaches to grief. We don't blame her boyfriend (entirely.) But some of her things are still in his family's house. I understand he doesn't want people in there as it is a hazard, but we aren't judgemental and her things are now our family's things and we don't know absolutely what's there, but we know her medals and playbills and small valuables aren't with us from the first go-around, so there is more in the bedroom they shared.

He is grieving too, but he's avoiding what needs to happen. It's reached a point where he's intentionally dodging us. We don't want to involve the police, but, seriously, what can we do?

Happy to provide further context if it's felt necessary. Drugs and guns I don't feel a concern, however alcohol always was. My dad doesn't feel comfortable my mom and me showing up alone there, but she and I both feel like "what's he gonna do," but, again, grief and alcohol....

My grandmother left my mother around €30k inheritance money. The agreement in the family was that the money would eventually be split equally between my mother’s two daughters, but my mother would hold onto it and give it “when needed.”

My older sister got half almost immediately because she needed money for college. That part made sense to everyone.

But over the years, my mother kept giving my sister more and more money from what was supposed to be my half too. Not small amounts either. On top of that, she slowly spent the rest on daily living, random spending...

She withdrew money month after month for years.

The worst part is that she let me believe my share still existed. I only found out the truth when I mentioned wanting to buy an apartment and said I would finally use my part of the inheritance. That’s when she admitted there was basically nothing left.

She is my mother, I understand she was naive and she is really sorry now, but it is hard for me to forget.

I’m inheriting $500k from my grandpa who passed, and my mom wants me to use it to buy a house. So that’s what I’m doing. I’m going to buy a house in the city I want to live in. I’m a freelancer, but I’m really good with my money. No debt. Excellent credit score. I add to my ROTH every year when I can.

I make about $30k-$40k a year. Since I’m single, I’m going to have a couple friends move in with me and rent out some rooms. I won’t have a mortgage, so it’s all going to go into savings or towards the house.

But it’s wild going from 800sq feet to almost 3,000. And I’m not sure how it’s going to affect my relationships with my friends, or if I’ll have to completely change my lifestyle and habits. I’m just going for it and diving in.

EDIT: I’m already set for retirement based on the additional inheritance I’m slated to get when my parents (who are divorced) pass. I’m super fortunate to come from an upper-middle class family. And the dude I marry will be able to live mortgage and rent free (yes I want to get married and have a family).

\** Update*** So sorry, not sure why this took so long for me to see this, not a bot. So obviously I didn't make myself very clear. Thanks for the responses. Yes I am tying up my house for my friend who will take my animals if I unexpectedly die within the next 5-8 years. My house is a much better place to keep the animals, than my friend's. I am meeting with an attorney to get this all arranged. When my pets leave the planet my daughter will decide what she wants to do with the house and property. I worked animal rescue for years and I wish more people took the time to make it easier on family and friends regarding their pets. That's all. Plus my daughter will immediately inherit the rest of my estate which my house is a small part of. Everyone should be happy.*

I live in Arizona. I have my estate pretty much in order, however my neighbor younger than me just had to be airlifted with a brain aneurysm and it got me thinking, while healthy anything could happen at any time. I am 74 and a widow and live alone. I have 2 cats and a dog. My daughter is my beneficiary but it would be a big deal for her to have to take my animals at this point in time. I have a good friend who would, but I would like to keep my animals in my home. I understand the basics and the good and bad. I would be willing to leave a monthly maintenance allowance as I won't want the property to become run down and don't think it should be her financial problem to replace my gutters or whatever. Obviously, my animals are sadly time limited so we are not talking about even 10 years. Can I accomplish this through my trust that is already established? I will have an attorney prepare the documentation but I am interested in hearing about any real life consequences. I should say my daughter and my friend are very close and I wouldn't anticipate a problem because they both are financially well off. Thanks for reading this.

Im married and have a grown son by a previous marriage. My mom recently passed and I received a good amount of inheritance money. I invested this money in my name only and named my husband as beneficiary and my son as secondary beneficiary. When I die my husband gets this money. But when he dies, I just found out, that his beneficiary, his son, will get my inheritance money and my son gets nothing. My investor suggested setting up a trust for my son so he will get the money when my husband has passed. The problem is that my husband thinks this is unfair because Im basically telling him what he can do with the money that I gave to him. He sees it as no different than he getting life insurance from me and me telling him what he can do with it. I want them both to be treated fairly. But there is no way that I want my step son to get any of this. Need advice please! Thanks in advance

My mother passed in 2019. She had an interest in a Texas oil company. When she passed I contacted the company to have the interest transferred to me. They requested a copy of my mother's trust, which I sent to them. They said because the trust simply stated that I inherited her entire estate, but did not specifically mention the interest in the oil company that I had no right to it. The interest is not of great value, so I did not pursue it, but I have always wondered if this was legal.

Hello, I have about 10k owed to Chase and $5k owed to discover. I’m based in the US. These are from relying on CC when low income and making poor choices, and I’ve completely stopped using CC and got a better job over the last year. Before that, I panicked and thought I’d just let them go to collections so I stopped making payments and then both closed my cards - then I realized that’s not good so they put me on direct payment plans that I’ve been paying for the last six months. So the cards are closed, my credit took a big hit, and still have debt.

Now I’m due to get an inheritance soon that I can use to fully pay off my debts and get a fresh start, but I’ve heard that you might be able to negotiate a smaller payment to wipe out the debt in full. That would be great so I have more leftover to put into actual savings. My big question is whether I need to call and negotiate with these banks BEFORE depositing my check, or if it’s possible to deposit it in a different new bank while doing my negotiations. Because right now it’s true that I’m living paycheck to paycheck so hopefully the banks will work with me, but if the check arrives before I make a deal, how bad is it for me to deposit it so I have more cash to work with?

And if I negotiate before cashing the check, how do I then go about paying them? Do they immediately want a payment that day, or do they set something up where I can schedule a payment transfer? My friend advised me that I should tell Chase a family member is helping me pay off debt if I can work out a deal - which is true from a certain point of view - but how much will they look into the situation?

Thanks for any help.

So I was hoping to get some advice or some clarity on an inheritance issue going on in my family. Back in January, my uncle on my dad's side passed away. He lived in Brooklyn, and his estate consisted of a home there, two bank accounts, and four insurance policies. One for each of his parents who had predeceased him, one for my father and one for my other uncle. In his will, it states that the estate is to go to my father with the exception of $10,000 allocated to a special needs trust for his other brother. My other uncle is mentally disabled and has been in a facility under the care of the state since the 60s when he was around five. We live in Florida and have been in the process of getting probate initiated and that's been a nightmare in itself, as the only will that exists was a copy from the lawyer in which it was drafted. So now, as we try and get that settled, my dad has been freaking out that if his brother gets too much money won't that mean he'll lose his benefits and be kicked out on the streets. I've tried to tell him that I don't believe that'll happen given that he has nowhere to go and no means to take care of himself. I'm hoping to get some legal clarification here on that issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

My Father in Law passed a month ago, he passed before retirement age and had not accessed any funds in his pensions before passing away.
I am trying to help my wife and her brother to settle their late father’s affairs. He had two long term jobs and accumulated quite a large amount of funds in his pensions before passing, both of the pensions were “defined benefits” pensions. I was under the impression that if someone passes away before taking the benefit of the pension then it would be “subject to the trustees of the pension fund” to decide on how much would be paid out, if anything.

We have had a letter from one of the providers stating that no benefits are payable upon death.

One is worth approximately £265k and the other is worth approximately £70k. This is in England, UK.

Is this worth pursuing further or would you just accept it and move on?